Hexplore24 — Day 6
Content Warning: Today some very violent and sudden events occur.
Rolling Knave 2e Weather [-] 1
It was blizzard yesterday.
Calm for the season
Belus and Satis awaken to a silent, snow-covered landscape under a slate sky.
Satis is exhausted, having barely slept through the night. Belus had slept and, while still stiff, was feeling a bit better from his wounds.
Because of heavy snow, +1 to all travel today.
"We have 5 days of rations," Belus says as they survey the quiet, cold, endless snowed landscape.
"At best we are a two-day's journey from Beacon - if we stick to the plains," Satis suggests. "Though 3 days if this snow remains."
"But," Belus argues, "We have no treasure, no discoveries, no valuables to fund a second storage expedition."
Satis looks off towards the hills that the witches had said they'd seen lights at night.
"Perhaps," Satis begins, "we've been too focused on miles, and less on exploring what's hidden - though I admit the lights would be a good diversion..."
The hills they believe the witches indicated stretch far across the horizon.
"Until we see them ourselves, we cannot afford to head towards the wrong region. We are not equipped for that level of expedition," Belus argues.
"If we were to see the lights - would that be worth money?" Satis asks.
"No, but it could gain us companions," Belus replies. “If they had funds, we could offer to lead them, work as guides."
Satis smiles, then says "I think we stay & camp here, forage and explore, then search for the lights tonight. Once seen then we head back to Beacon and get a new expedition going."
Belus agrees.
At dawn watch Both forage, one will check. Pass - 5 rations 2
They set out together and spend the early hours foraging enough food for 5 rations.
Wood foraging, -2 for snow. 6hrs.
Next watch, wood again, 3-5 = 4hrs.
They spend the next 8 hrs foraging for wood, which is tricky in the snow. Eventually, they have 9 hours worth.
It is now dusk, and Belus cooks a meal while Satis unsuccessfully forages for more wood. When she returns Belus tries to tell a story he was reminded of, but Satis is cold and distracted.
FC: Do they see the lights? Extreme yes; Lights are in hex K12
Then she gasps and points. There, just above the horizon, on the side of distant hills, they see the lights. They are dim, and only a few of them, but they are undoubtedly the same lights the witches spoke of.
"Could they be other travelers?" Belus whispers. "No, too large to be camp fires," Satis replies.
Excited, they both prepare to retire for the night.
But! We have an encounter, other humans! Four Peddlers, friendly.
"Hello!" a voice calls out, and Belus and Satis turn to see four travelers, 3 men and a woman, with enormous packs, standing in the cold.
"Hello!" Belus calls back. "Who are you and what can we do?" he asks.
Rolling on HSI encounter table - what are they doing? Being pursued by... by beetles...
The travelers quickly explained they stumbled onto a nest of Rapacious Beetles, and had to flee.
They believed they'd lost them, and in searching for a campsite saw the fire.
FC: Beetles still hunting them? Extreme yes; Number? 8!! 3
But just as Belus and Satis are inviting them to come over to the fire - a mass of 8 donkey-sized chittering beetles burst out of the night.
Beetles have surprise 4
HP 3 x8; DF6
Peddlers: HD1 DF0
Before anyone can react, the beetles start mauling the peddlers.
2 beetles hit 1 ped.
Peds must roll 3d20 & 16 to dodge. Or take d8 dmg. 5
Ped one, 4HP. Hit twice. Dead.
Ped two, 6HP. Hit twice, 3HP left.
Ped three, 4HP. Hit twice. Dead.
Ped four, 4HP. Hit once, Dead.
This is horrible.
Like, so bad...
The night is filled with screams, in a bloody instant all but one of the peddlers is dead, and the lone survivor is bleeding from a huge gash on his arms.
Ok, rolled initiative. Satis and beetles, then Belus, Then Peddler.
Thankfully Satis goes first so she can cast her Vapours of Dream. Because Missile before melee.
Satis casts her spell, a thick magic vapor billows out in the air around the beetles.
Each Beetle gets a save. SV of 8
Oh no, only 3 of the 8 fall asleep. 6
Test morale of 9 ... 10! The Beetles flee! That roll saved us from a TPK. 7
Three Beetles fall asleep, but 6 are unscathed by the magic. However...
They sense the magical danger and flee back into the night. Belus and Satis slay the sleeping bugs. Satis and Belus rush to help the lone survivor, binding his wounds. They allow him to get some sleep despite the nightmare they just witnessed.
Tomorrow we meet this traumatized peddler and bury the dead.
← Yesterday | Index | Tomorrow →
Knave 2e’s weather table is always the same 2d6, but I wanted the blizzard yesterday to have an impact on today’s weather, so I rolled 3d6 and dropped the highest.↩
Earlier I just used the Dolmenwood Travel system to structure the day, but today, seeing as they are not traveling, I felt I needed some way to divide up the day. I adopted the “watch” system from The Dark of Hot Springs Island: the day is split up into 6 4-hour watches. I’m letting Belus and Satis perform an action per-watch.↩
Just a few bad rolls and everything changes. This encounter, which only had a 1-in-6 chance of occurring, is about to turn into something very unexpected. This is really bad luck 1. Bad luck two is I roll the maximum possible number of beetles - 8.↩
This is really bad luck 3 — we lose initiative to the beetles. These giant bugs are really tough. I’m getting pretty worried at this point.↩
So I work out the math, then roll peddler after peddler to see what happens. The peddlers all have very low hp and no armor. It is a blood bath. Really bad luck 4-6.↩
At this point I’m sure I’m about to have a total party kill (TPK). Satis’ sleep spell was my only hope. To still have 5 of these beetles is too much for Belus and Satis to face. BUT, I remember I can do a morale check — if I roll above a 9 on a 2d6 the beetles will flee. Technically you do this at the first death - but I felt the magic causing three of them to fall asleep was close enough to death that I was going to allow this hail mary.↩
I don’t fudge rolls - I’ve found that robs me of my enjoyment. This really was going to be a TPK if the roll didn’t go well. I’m rather shocked at how terrible this whole evening came out. But, that’s also the magic of a solo game like this - you really really really don’t know what’s going to happen next.↩